Survivor 44

Survivor 44 is the forty-fourth season of the American competitive reality television series Survivor. This season, filmed from June 5 through June 30, 2022, is the twelfth consecutive season filmed in the Mamanuca Islands in Fiji. It premiered on March 1, 2023, on CBS in the United States and Global in Canada. The season concluded on May 24, 2023, when Yamil "Yam Yam" Arocho was named the winner of the season, defeating Heidi Lagares-Greenblatt and Carolyn Wiger in a 7–1–0 vote.

Production
CBS renewed Survivor for its forty-third and forty-fourth seasons on March 9, 2022. As with every season since season 41, Survivor 44 features 26 days of gameplay, pitting eighteen contestants against one another in three initial tribes. Filming began in June 5, 2022, and concluded on June 30, 2022.

Contestants
The cast was announced on January 31, 2023, and consists of 18 new players divided into three tribes: Ratu, Soka, and Tika. The name of the merged tribe is Va Va, a name coined by contestant and eventual season winner Yamil "Yam Yam" Arocho from the Fijian term va, meaning "four" (Va Va being 4-4, as is Survivor 44 ). Among the contestants is former Seattle Seahawks fullback Brandon Cottom.

Future appearances
Bruce Perreault returned for the following season, Survivor 45.

Outside of Survivor, Carolyn Wiger competed on the third season of The Traitors.

Reception
Survivor 44 received positive reviews; praise was directed toward the cast, their camaraderie and the level of strategic play, while some criticism was directed toward the abundance of twists and advantages in the pre-merge portion of the season as well as the predictability of the post-merge portion. Entertainment Weekly's Dalton Ross ranked this season 20th out of 44, praising the cast, particularly Carolyn and Yam Yam for being "an all-time great character" and "one of the most delightfully funny narrators in the show's history" respectively, but criticized the season for lacking "jaw-dropping moves or moments along the way that stood out." The "Purple Rock Podcast" ranked this season 11th out of 44, stating that the season's cast "came to play" and that the season has "a little something for many different types of Survivor fans: strategy, comedy, romance, and satisfying narrative arcs." Although Andy Dehnart of Reality Blurred criticized the season for having "some lamentable decisions and frustrating episodes", he praised the cast and their gameplay, which he states is "the best we can ask for in this new era." Martin Holmes of Inside Survivor had mixed feelings towards the season. Although he praised the Tika three and their arc throughout the season, he also criticized that said alliance's overexposure "resulted in gaps in the narrative and took away the emotional impact and investment when it came to those players' eliminations." He also viewed the finale as predictable, stating that it went "pretty much as expected, with very little in the way of surprises."